Heat
by S-Michael
Summary: Marta's part snake. The desert is cold at night. Ed is the nearest warm thing. Do the math. But then one thing leads to another... [episodebased oneshot, MartaEd]


This fanfic, unlike any other I have yet published, takes place during the established canon instead of the possible-near-future (most of my stuff could take place episode after next, if the shows they are about are still churning out episodes and the shows' writers lost their common sense). It pretty much has to: this story is about Marta and Ed; Marta dies at the end of season 1 and Ed is stranded in a strange alien world (our world) at the end of season 2. The only way I can think to have them together after the end of the series is to have them meet in the afterlife, and that option is reserved for another story about a series in which that actually makes a little more sense. The italicized paragraphs are parts of the story that are actually "on screen" in the canon. I literally had to record the show (episode 39, Secret of Ishbal) and repetitively rewind and play each individual included line from the canon in order to make sure I got it all right. What can I say? I don't like making stupid mistakes. Enjoy.

Heat

S-Michael

"_So, you're the one."_

"_Yeah. I killed Greed. And I'm not sorry, either."_

"_Brother, please! This isn't the time," Al interjected._

"_Marta, I don't know where you stand on all this, but I want to make sure you know where I'm at: I regard you and Greed as criminals, especially Greed. He murdered Dante, an old woman, and he deserved what he got."_

_Marta stood, drew a blade, and started walking._

_Al gasped. "Marta, stop!" Marta tossed the knife in their direction. "Look out!" Al tackled his brother, protecting Ed's flesh-and-blood body with his metal one. The knife hit a snake, just below where the head becomes the neck. "Heh, heh. A snake. Right," Al said bashfully._

_Marta pulled the knife, snake and all, from the earth. "If we _were_ enemies, you'd already be dead," she said. "Greed knew that he would be sealed again, and he couldn't take that. What is worse for the greedy than having nothing at all? I think he wanted you to end his life, end the pain. My enemies in all of this are the military elite who made us. Those freaks dressed up in black…and the rat who betrayed us most of all!" She began to tremble with rage. She sliced the snake down the length of its body, only the head keeping the two halves together. "Kimbley!" She relaxed some, and tossed the snake at Ed. "You should eat that. They're good for you."_

_Ed looked up at her, and actually smiled. "Really? Then why don't you eat it?"_

"_C'mon, you want to turn me into a cannibal now, Ed?" Marta asked, winking at him._

"Lots of snakes eat other snakes," Ed said. "The king snake's favorite food is cobra, you know."

"Never figured you to have a thing for snakes," Marta said.

"I don't, not really, but you don't get to be a prodigy by being stupid, you know?" Ed said. He looked up at the night sky. "In an odd way, this reminds me of home. Back then, Al and I used to lay on the grass and stare at the stars. The Great Dipper, the Bear, the North Star, Orion. I guess it's been a while since I've been able to do that. Beautiful night."

"Yeah, beautiful. And cold. And it's going to get colder yet, if memory serves, and fast," Marta said. "We'd better hit the sack."

"Someone should keep watch," Ed said.

"I don't sleep, so that settles that," Al said.

Ed concentrated on setting up his sleeping bag, and crawled into it, striping down to the underwear once he was inside. Then he felt someone crawl in behind him. "What are you doing?" Ed demanded, half-panicked.

"I'm a reptile, Ed," Marta said. "It's about to become really cold. Do the math."

"Oh," Ed said, relaxing.

"What, you think I was hitting on you?" Marta asked, stripping off her boots, pants, and weapons.

"Well, maybe for a second," Ed blushed. "I mean, you _did_ literally get in the sack with me."

"Punny. Cute," Marta said dryly. She pressed herself as close to Ed's body as she could, absorbing as much precious heat as possible, her face buried in his long, soft, luxuriant hair. He smelled nice. Like vanilla. She wondered if she was the only one who thought he smelled like vanilla, and what it would mean if she were the only one who found his scent so pleasant. Then she wondered if anyone else had ever been close enough to know that he smells like vanilla.

Ed was very aware of the areas where their bodies pressed together. When she breathed, he felt it; both in the expansion and contraction of her chest and in the warmth of her breath on his neck, on his ear, and in his hair. Her limbs were wrapped around his, she was squeezing him to her like her life depended on it, and he was very, _very_ aware of it. "You're warm," she said in his ear, softly, but her breath on his skin gave him goose bumps. Ed grunted. "By the way, when I hit on you, you'll _know_ it." His eyes opened wide and his body stiffened. She chuckled. Great; she was making fun of him. Ed resigned himself to it and decided to go to sleep. Having her spoon against his back really was a pleasant sensation, after all…he nodded off to sleep.

Marta kicked Ed. "Up, boy."

"What time is it?" Ed asked groggily.

"Day," Marta said.

"Yeah, I can tell _that _much," Ed said, blinking in the sunlight. He dressed inside of the sleeping bag.

"Modesty? After we slept together?"

"Funny," Ed said dryly. He stood, fully dressed.

"Come. I'm leaving for Ishbal whether you're ready or not," Marta said. She slapped Ed's butt and got into the driver's seat of her vehicle.

Ed wondered if he should be offended, and decided to forget it. He hopped into the back with Al. They rode in silence for a while. Ed looked up at Marta; she really _was_ beautiful. And deadly, which was a good thing, considering how many enemies Ed had who would love nothing better than the prospect of being able to take the Full Metal Alchemist's girlfriend captive. _Girlfriend? What the hell am I talking about?_ He had literally just met this woman, she told him herself that she wasn't human, so why was he thinking like that. Was a little closeness really that powerful? They slept in the same bag the next night, and the next night.

"You know, I'm going to miss having you to cuddle up next to," Marta teased.

"Now, how can I possibly respond to that without putting my foot in my mouth?" Ed asked.

"Why Edward, whatever do you mean?"

"I can't say I do, too, I cant say I don't, and saying 'maybe' would make me look like an idiot," Ed said.

"Why can't you say you do or you don't?" Marta asked.

"If I say I do, I look like a pervert, and I can't say I don't because…" _…because it's not true._ He couldn't say that, though. "I just can't."

She spun him onto his back and pressed herself on top of him, pinning him to the ground. There was no way she couldn't have felt-- "Oh, so _that's _why you 'just can't,'" Marta said, bemused.

"Alright, I can hardly deny the obvious. Dou you blame me? You're beautiful, and I have just spent three nights with very intimate parts of your body pressed against me. Can we please not make a big deal of this?"

Marta grinned evilly down at him in the darkness, and began to move her hips in a pantomime of sex.

"Don't do that," Ed gasped. "It's really unfair."

The grin was wiped from her face. "You're right, Ed. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be trying to screw you, not until you know the truth about me."

"The truth about you?" Edward asked. _Trying to screw me?_

"Soon enough," Marta said. She kissed him playfully, and then they got back in their original position. It was a long time before Ed got to sleep that night.

"Up with you, Lover," Marta said, kicking Edward the next morning.

" 'Lover,' that's new," Edward said groggily.

"Thought you would like it," Marta said. Ed threw off the blanket and pulled his clothes on. "Nice bod. What's with the sudden lack of modesty?"

"First I'm being too modest, now I'm not being modest enough? I can't win!" Ed declared.

"Of course you can't," Marta agreed. "Now get your hot bod on that ride."

Ed got into the back of the vehicle, and they drove off. He stared out at the desert, and thought about what Marta had said last night. It wasn't easy; part of his mind was gnawing over what "the truth" about Marta was, and another was just wondering if she really wanted to screw him.

"_We're close to Leore now, aren't we?" Al asked._

"_What?" Ed asked, jerked from his reverie. "Yeah."_

"_I wonder how Rose is? I hope she's alright."_

"_And who might that be?" Ed feigned ignorance._

"_Nice try, brother…"_

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"_It's hot in there," Marta said, stretching._

"_You should be careful; the way the state sees it, you're a wanted criminal," Ed said._

"_Do you really want to do this, brother?" Al asked. "Go into Leore on your own?"_

"_Archer doesn't trust us. Leaving you behind was part of the deal. Someone has to confront Scar," Ed said._

"_You think that transmutation circle is for the Philosopher's Stone?" Al asked._

"_If it is, I'll break it apart," Ed said. He turned around to look at them. "Marta, stay out of sight, okay?" He congratulated himself on keeping his voice emotionless. He hadn't known her long enough to get emotionally attached._

"_Don't you sweat it. Staying out of sight is my specialty. I held myself back from that Archer jerk, didn't I? I have to kill Kimbley and those people in black first. My revenge against the military comes later," Marta said._

"_I won't let you do any of that," Al said._

_Marta looked at him out of the corner of her eye and just sort of chuckled._

"I mean it," Al said. "Ed's going to take on Scar alone, and you're going to take on Kimbley, Archer, and whoever else? Am I the only one here who isn't insane?"

"Quite possibly," Ed said.

"Yeah," Marta chuckled. "Al, could I speak to Ed alone?"

"Okay. I'm going to go catch up with Hawkeye and the guys," Al said, leaving the room.

"This 'Scar' guy sounds dangerous,' Marta said.

"Kimbley, Archer, and the men in black _are_ dangerous. For all I know, Scar might not even want to kill me," Ed said. "You, however, risk bringing down the whole of the military down on your head. More than you have already, that is."

"Okay, you win that round," Marta admitted. "Still, there's a chance that one or both of us will be dead before we see each other again."

"That's a distinct possibility," Ed said. They were speaking matter-of-factly, as if they were discussing the weather or talking about the shapes they saw in the clouds.

" 'Live for the day, for tomorrow we die,'" Marta said. "Old military motto."

"I know. Well, I for one wouldn't want to leave this world with any regrets, especially not any recent ones that I had the chance to…rectify," Ed said. He stood up and started walking towards her.

"Last night you didn't know the truth about me. Now that you know that I'm old enough to be your mother, do you still want to help me find out what my uber-flexible serpentine chimera body can do? Fourteen years is a long time to be chaste, you know," Marta said. "Don't look so shocked. I was locked up since before I became a chimera, remember? Now answer the question."

"I always had a thing for older women," Ed said.

"Glad to hear it. How long do we have?" Marta asked.

"I have to leave in a couple of hours," Ed said.

"Well, we'd better make it quick, then," Marta said.

Ed raised an eyebrow. "A couple of hours is 'quick' for you?"

"Yeah."

"You better not do anything stupid and get yourself caught and killed before I return. I want to find out what your idea of 'long' is," Ed said.

She laughed. "Can't make any promises. Clothes off. Now!"

Ed hastened to obey. Marta tore her clothing off as well, and then pushed Ed onto his bed. She climbed on top of him, pinning his arms to his sides and his legs together in ways that should not have been possible. She kissed him, hard.

"So you haven't had sex since before you were turned into this?" Ed asked.

"I just said that," Marta said.

"I understand. What I mean is…so this body has _never_ had sex…does that make you a virgin?"

"I don't know. Let's find out."

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"You're sweating," Ed said.

"Do you blame me?" Marta asked.

"No, but you said you were cold-blooded…" his mouth dropped open, "you lied!"

"Well, I exaggerated. What can I say? I couldn't keep my hands off of you," Marta said.

Ed laughed. "What time is it? People are probably wondering where I have been all evening. I'd better get dressed and ready to go down into Leore." He sat up and dressed himself. "Hey, uh…how was I? Be honest."

"I could totally tell that you were a virgin, but you were quite talented and adaptable," Marta said. "No doubt you'll be expert in all things sexual in no time. Given the proper tutelage, of course."

"You better not get yourself killed," Ed said, standing up. "I mean, you're going to be a hard act to follow for whoever I fall for next."

Marta chuckled. "Try impossible. I can do things no human being can do."

"Don't get caught," Ed said, leaving the room.

"Scout's honor," Marta said.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"_You can't come out, sir, I'm sorry. The colonel has given clear orders; you're not to be seen."_

"_Why, because I'm supposed to be dead? At least let me play at night."_

_Marta knew that voice! She looked through Al's grill._

"_I can't!" a soldier was saying into an open door._

_The occupant of the room came forward, into view, grabbing the soldier by the neck of his uniform "Really?" It was Kimbley._

_Al gasped. Marta hesitated. She wasn't worried about her own safety, it was Ed she was thinking about. She told him she wasn't going to do anything stupid, and she didn't want him to come back and find that she was dead. _

"_Sir!" the soldier protested as Kimbley continued to harass him._

I'm sorry, Ed._ Marta leaped from inside of Al and charged Kimbley._

"_No!" Al shouted._

"_Kimbley!"_

_The bastard smiled. "Hello."_

FIN

Author's Commentary (As If You Care)

Why did I do this, you ask? Well, to be quite honest, I just wanted to get Marta laid. It's really sad that she dies just as we're getting to know her, and I felt she needed, nay, _deserved_ one last hurrah before she died. Obviously, I couldn't have her screw Alphonse, as he is a walking suit of armor, and the second best choice was Edward.

The objective, then, was to get Marta and Ed into bed sometime between episode 38 (when Ed and Marta meet for the first time) and episode 40 (when Marta dies). How? Then it occurs to me that Marta is part snake; could she be exothermic, and thereby need Ed's body heat to keep her warm at night? Probably not; she's capable of upright bipedal movement, not exactly something many cold-blooded animals are capable of, after all. Still, it was a good idea, and I rectified the inconsistency later, anyway, so it all worked out.

So now Marta's snakiness is causing her to cuddle up next to nice, warm Ed at night. Not enough to make them screw, but it's a start. Working under the theory that it is impossible to be that close to someone you find physically attractive without thinking about sex, it's actually a pretty good start. One thing leads to another, "innocent" teasing turns into something more, presto chango, Marta and Ed hop into the sack. Okay, maybe not that simple.

My original theory was that there was a day between the dinner where Mustang tells Ed the truth about Leore and where Ed goes into Leore. After all, that looked like a dinner party, and it was bright as noon in the next scene. I actually had the entire scene transcribed into this document before I noticed--outside the window: it was noon. They were eating lunch. I figured that I could just ascribe it to artistic liscense and get on with the story, and so I did, and then I realized that after between when Ed asked Archer for the assignment and when Ed left, it had suddenly become night.

There was a whole five hour chunk missing from that afternoon/evening day, with the scene where Ed is preparing and Al and Marta are with him floating around in there somewhere, capable of being adjusted like the beads on an abacus. This also relieves the "paradox strain" (if you will) that had been nagging at me. It wasn't a big thing, but it was an annoyance and a strain on the story. The aforementioned scene looked, sounded, and felt like it was the first time Marta came out of Al since they had joined company with the military. Marta saying that it was hot inside of Al or Ed telling her to be careful would have been redundant afterwards. But according to the way I had it, it couldn't have been the first time, because Ed and Marta had sex the night before. What's more, Marta actually risked being caught to sneak into Ed's room and have sex with him (which is in and of itself another wound to the plausibility of the story, come to think of it).

I left out all material that didn't directly touch on the, um, additions that I made. I didn't want to be typing out a transcript of the episode, after all! I know that there really isn't all that much closure in this story, but come on! It's not like you don't know what happens next! Hate to break it to you, but Marta dies. Yeah, I thought that sucked, too. That's why I wrote this.

Oh, and before I forget, I make a point to use these commentaries to plug other works of mine on a similar topic, so you should read _Debt_ if you liked this one. As of right now, it's rated T, but I just might replace it with the M-rated version one day. Of course, I've been threatening y'all with that since (it seems like) the day after I published it, so who knows? Bye. Please R&R.


End file.
